The Supreme Court on Monday declined to interfere with an order of the Agra Additional District Magistrate (City), barring people who are not residents of the city from offering Friday prayers at the mosque located in the Taj Mahal.

A bench of Justices A K Sikri and Ashok Bhushan observed that there were other mosques in Agra, and non-residents could offer prayers there. “This monument is the seventh wonder of the world and we do not want this to decimate,” the court said, dismissing a PIL filed by president of the Taj Mahal Masjid Management Committee, Syed Ibrahim Hussain Zaidi, challenging the January 24 order which cited security reasons.

The court asked the petitioner, “why for such prayers, should they go to the Taj Mahal…There are other mosques also. They can offer their prayers there”. The court also said such issues should not be raised under Article 32, which deals with fundamental rights.

The petitioner’s counsel argued that the ADM’s order discriminated between residents and non-residents.